V's Hole and Misasa Onsen

I guess I wanted more outdoors activities, because the weekend after going to Yabu, I joined a bunch of other JETs to go to Misasa, a mountain town in Tottori prefecture to go to a swimming hole. Called by JETs as V's Hole,  after a JET named Virginie, the area is along a river in the mountains near the town. Not only were there two great swimming holes right in a line, there were some great boulders to play on, and I found you could even slide down the waterfall into the swimming hole!

We were a bit late in the season to come to this spot, because the water is classic mountain water, so it is quite chilly. But nonetheless I had a blast! Afterwards we went to an onsen in Misasa to freshen up. Misasa is one of Japan's many onsen towns, which are towns that popped up because they are near hot springs. Misasa's hot springs water is known for having notable levels of radon, which they claim has health benefits, particularly for the immune system. There is a saying if you bathe in Misasa 3 times you will be cured of any illness. To back the mystical claims, Misasa's population has half the cancer rate of the rest of Japan, so there is probably something to radiated water.

Afterwards we also went and got some good ramen. I ordered the veggie ramen, which is classic Japanese fashion, was cooked in pork broth and had a healthy serving of pork to accompany the vegetables. It was a good way to spend the weekend! I hope to go back when the mushi-atsui (muggy) summer starts.